Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ becomes most-streamed song of the 20th century

Universal Music Group announced Monday that the quintessential Queen song has surpassed 1.5 billion streams, making it the most-streamed song released in the 20th century.

“So the river of rock music has metamorphosed into streams!” Queen guitarist and founding member Brian May said in a statement. “Very happy that our music is still flowing to the max!”

It’s a victory made so much more sweet when considering that the band’s former manager and label seemed convinced the song wouldn’t sell coming in at five minutes and 55 seconds. That wasn’t the case then, and it’s not the case in the era of streaming.

It’s no coincidence that this achievement coincides with the release of 20th Century Fox’s Bohemian Rhapsody, the Queen biopic centered on frontman Freddie Mercury, as played by newly minted Golden Globe nominee Rami Malek.

The film, credited to director Bryan Singer despite on-set drama, gained access to Queen’s library of hits, which included a cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” reminding the world how much it loves the song.